Sinners and Saints
by nicholex
Summary: She woke up from a coma to see the world turned upside down. While on the search for her family, she tries her hardest to survive and keep the ones she loves closest to her. Then there's someone that'll either make her or break her, which is the least of her worries.
1. Days Gone Bye

**Writer's Note**_ - _Hey there! This is actually my first Walking Dead fanfiction ever, so I'm pretty nervous for how this is going to turn out because it's sort of out of my comfort zone and extremely different from the lovely Vampire Diaries fictions I'm so used to writing. At first, I really wanted to do a Bethyl fanfiction, but instead, I got some inspiration to do a DarylxOC, since I haven't done fictions with a original character for quite a long time. This will be following the plotline of the show with my own little twists and turns here and there. I should mention that this is going to be really slow paced. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy and don't forget to leave a little review with your thoughts afterwards.

**Disclaimer****: **I do not own the Walking Dead. I do, however, own my little bundle of joy that is Savannah (and any other additional OC's I bring in the future).

* * *

_**Days Gone Bye: Chapter I**_

_**Savannah**_

There was no longer a beeping coming from beside my bed, no longer a warm feeling coming from beneath the sheets, and no longer a nice smelling air freshener lingering in the room. Instead, it was all replaced with the smell of rotting flesh that caused my nostrils to flare. That was _not_ the smell I wanted to ingest into my lungs when I first opened my eyes. My grey eyes opened and were glazed over with tears. Had I been crying during my very deep slumber? I must've because I could feel dry tears pasted onto my cheeks.

My eyes were hooded as I tried to look around at my surroundings. I took note that I was in a hospital. There were chairs turned over along with a table. Magazines were scattered around too that I assumed were once lying on top of the wooden stand. My room looked trashed, which caused me to furrow my brow the best I could, but I stopped once a pounding in my mind rang out. God, did my whole body ache. _  
_

I wanted to get up from my position on the bed, but found my body to be restraining the movement I was trying to make. My shoulder burned and I finally felt something wrapped around it. I don't know how it got there or what happened or how I got into the hospital; I only knew what I had heard during what I assumed to be a very long and peaceful sleep. It was like I was knocked out but could still make out the smells and sounds that surrounded me. Uneasiness settled into my stomach and caused it to flip at the smell that I once again regained.

Looking around me again in my fetal position, I saw that there were a few bouquets of flowers around my room on the beside tables. Much to my dismay, the flowers were dead and crumbling, a few dark grey petals cluttering around the vase. All of the little notes on a stick in the middle of it either said 'get well soon' or 'i love you'. I had no clue who they were from, and it didn't look like it mattered anymore anyway.

Finally, I gritted my teeth and hissed as I swung my legs over the side of the bed. I took the needles from the inside of my elbow and threw the tubes to the side, watching as two tiny red dots formed where I pulled out the needles. I frowned at them as I finally got up off the bed. I would've fallen over if it wasn't for the support of the bed behind me. To not have much feeling in my legs was an odd, numb feeling that I didn't enjoy too much. I had to stomp my feet a few times just to get the pins-and-needle feeling to disappear.

My hands grasped the doorknob and swung open the door to see an empty corridor that was partially lit up by a light at the end of it that kept blinking.

There was stuff all around the floor; from surgeon utensils to carts that used to be filled with towels and toilet paper.

"Nurse?" I screamed after whipping my head from side to side to survey my surroundings. "Nurse!"

Nobody came to my rescue which caused my frown to deepen. Though, if I stayed quiet enough, I did hear the padding of feet coming from somewhere around the corner. Maybe it was a nurse or a doctor, or maybe another patient.

I slowly rounded the corner with my back against the wall. The first thing I saw was a man standing there with his body towards me. He was tossing things around on a desk until his hands grasped a small box. I realized it was matches when he flicked the little stick onto the side of it. He was looking for something, then came up empty handed only to throw the match back and forth until the flame went out.

Thankfully, he didn't notice me. Instead of coming my way, he turned around and walked towards a set of doors that caught his eye. From where I stood I couldn't make out what he was looking at, but knew that it was something terrifying by the way he stumbled away from the doors. That's when he saw me.

At first I didn't know how to react. My eyes just got big once his eyes landed on me. If only it had been a bit darker where I stood and I'd blend in with the darkness. Unfortunately for me, that didn't happen. He calmly made his way towards me, and I tried my hardest not to shrink away.

"Who are you?" He asked slowly, his voice laced with a southern drawl, unlike my own.

I searched for the words to say, and even my own name. "Um...Savannah."

His eyes scanned my face, and then finally onto my bandaged shoulder. Even though my gown was tied together the whole way up the front, it was still a bit noticeable underneath the blue material.

"What happened there?"

I looked down at my shoulder, my dark brown curls dancing around my face. "Oh, uh, I don't know." My voice was quiet, almost mute.

He just nodded his head, "Rick - Rick Grimes."

I gave him a tight lipped smile that didn't reach my eyes.

He walked down the hallway very slowly. It looked as if he couldn't walk that well either. I followed him until we stopped right at the end of the hallway. There was blood splatters everywhere which made me want to double over right there. However, I knew that I shouldn't show weakness. If I could put up with the stench of the place, I could take a little bit of blood.

Make that a _lot _of blood. Rick noticed it too and was looking at the walls, ground, and ceiling of the place at all the red liquid that stained the tile. He continued down the hallway until we were stepping over glass and rubble. It looked like a tornado went through this part of the corridor. There were pieces of the ceiling dangling in the air and broken parts from windows everywhere. At the end of the hall we were left speechless by what was across from us. Double doors with a lock, chain, and a piece of plywood locked the doors up. Spay painted onto the doors were the words 'DON'T OPEN. DEAD INSIDE.' The words left chills down my spine.

As if it couldn't get any worse, the doors started to open and grey rotting fingers forced their way through the ajar opening between the doors. That was our cue to run.

We pushed our way through doors towards our left and Rick ran towards the elevators. He kept pushing the buttons over and over again, then realizing that it wasn't working. I was already ahead of him when I saw a fire exit. I opened it up and he followed me with a slam of the door behind us.

It was pitch black. I couldn't make out anything and could only hear Rick's breathing and my own. Then Rick lit a match - which was odd because I didn't see him take the box with him._  
_

Finally, the smell reappeared. Rick and I began coughing uncontrollably, resulting in the match's flame to go out. He lit another one up and the two of us made our way gingerly down the stairs.

Again, the flame was gone and Rick sparked another one. Both of our eyes looked at the big red 'EXIT' letters above a door.

The sunlight was blinding once we opened the door. It took awhile to adjust to it, but eventually I could make out the outdoors. There were bodies everywhere. Their frames were covered with a white sheet and tied with a rope around each of their waists. Flies clung to them like bees on honey.

Rick led the way down another small set of stairs until we were on the hot Georgia pavement. I took note that there were heads popping out underneath the cloth and I could see the decaying flesh and blood that covered their once human faces. Tears brimmed my eyes. It was horrible. These people were piled on top of one another on the ground, in the back of a truck, and just jumbled together. I didn't even want to know what was happening or how it happened.

We hurried under a brick arch way and onto the grass. It was soft against my feet until we made it up the hill and onto more concrete. It was used as a military base; helicopters were everywhere along with useless supplies. Rick didn't even send a second glance around the place. He just looked like a man on a mission that didn't have time to take a look around.

* * *

The two of us have been walking for a good ten minutes. My legs already started to ache, and my shoulder wasn't any better. Everything hurt and all I wanted was to sit down.

Rick walked over towards a bicycle that was on its side. A few feet away from it was half a body. Its back was turned towards us and hanging from its waist where its legs should've been were intestines. I choked back a gasp.

Once Rick had the bike on its wheels, the body started moving. My eyes grew wide as it turned over with a groan escaping its throat. Its hands were reaching up for us, teeth chattering as if it wanted to eat us. Rick fell over, gasping at the being before us.

"What is that?" I asked as he got the strength he needed to get up on the bike. He probably didn't hear me because he was already peddling the bicycle away. "Hey, wait up!"

I thanked God that he wasn't a fast peddler. It was easy to catch up with him even though my legs hurt like Hell.

In a few minutes Rick stopped the bike and got off of it. He rushed inside a house, that I assumed was his own, and left me at the end of the stairs. I didn't want to go inside uninvited.

All I heard was Rick screaming, "Lori! Carl!" I took a guess and figured they were his loved ones. Then he started crying.

My heart sort of broke at the sound. I lost my loved ones too. I didn't know where my mother, father, brother, or sister were. For all I knew they could've been dead. It tore me apart at the thought of it.

I gave Rick some space after he walked back out of his house and sat down on his stairs. Giving him a smile, I crossed my arms and looked to my right at a moving object coming closer to us. It looked like another survivor, by the looks of it. He was dressed in a black suit and was stumbling his way towards us. I looked back at Rick and saw he had his hand in the air, waving at the person. Then I saw a kid walk up behind him.

"Rick!" I barely got his name out of my mouth before the kid hit him in the face with a shovel.

"Daddy!" The kid screamed off towards someone I couldn't see. "Daddy!"

I glared at the child, hearing Rick mumble the name Carl over and over again. The kid then laid his eyes on me. This wasn't going to end well.

"Daddy, I got the son of a bitch. I'm going to smack 'em dead." He inched his way towards me and I raised my hands up in some sort of surrender.

The man, who I assumed was his father, came up running behind me after a gunshot went off. "Did they say anything?" The older man asked, pushing his son aside to look at Rick. "I thought I heard him say something."

"He called me Carl," the boy said.

"Son, you know they don't talk." He eyed over Rick, completely ignoring my presence, and started asking Rick an array of questions. Once he put his gun in front of his face, I sort of lost it.

"Leave him alone!" I said, coming up to him. "He's innocent."

I watched as Rick's eyes fluttered close and then the gun was in _my _face.

* * *

I was standing in the bedroom when Rick woke up. He'd been knocked out for a few hours and Morgan, as I learned, tied him to the bed to keep him from moving. A smile formed on my face as I saw the older man wake up.

"What happened?" Morgan asked, the question pointed to Rick. "The wound?"

Rick's eyes settled on me, then he looked back over at Morgan. "Gun shot."

"Gun shot?" Morgan questioned. "What else? Anything?"

"Gun shot ain't enough?"

Morgan walked up towards his bed with a stern look on his face. "Look, I ask, and you answer. It's common courtesy, right?" He moved himself so he was now hovering inches away from Rick's face. "Did you get bit?"

I went through the same interrogation, telling Morgan that I had no idea what he meant by being 'bit', as he called it. He did ask how I got the wound on my shoulder and I explained, after racking my brain, how I was in a car accident. Apparently, as I remembered, I was skewered by a tree branch through my shoulder. Morgan helped change the bandages for me while Rick was passed out.

"Bit?" Rick furrowed his brow.

"Bit, chewed, maybe scratched - anything like that?"

"No, I got shot...just shot, as far as I know."

Morgan placed his hand onto Rick's head after the man flinched away, "Just let me." Then he felt for a temperature. "Feels cool enough," he said, looking over at Duane and I. "Fever would've killed 'ya by now."

Rick shook his head. "I don't think I have one."

"Be hard to miss," Morgan said. He took a knife from his pocket and held it in Rick's face. I stepped forward. "Take a moment - look at how sharp it is. You try anything, I will kill you and your friend with it and don't you think I won't." Morgan got up off the bed to remove Rick's restraints. I finally stepped back after noticing that Morgan wasn't planning on harming Rick or I yet.

"Come on out when you're able," Morgan said. He and Duane left and I followed suit.

I sat at their dining table as Morgan and Duane worked their way around me. They were just getting ready for supper and my stomach growled at the smell. I didn't know how long its been since I last ate so I was going to jump at the chance to get some food.

Duane handed me a plate just as Rick came out of the bedroom with a blanket covering his shoulders. He barely made eye contact with me and instead made his way into the living area.

"This place...Fred and Cindy Drakes?" Rick asked, looking at Morgan. "I've been here. This is their place."

"It was empty when we got here." I watched as Rick went over to the curtains covering the windows. "Don't do that," Morgan chided lightly. "They'll see the light."

I chewed on my food slowly, watching as the two men talked.

"There's more out there than usual," Morgan said. "I never should've fired that gun today."

I raised a brow.

"The sound draws them in," Morgan clarified at my expression. "Now they're all over the street...stupid...using a gun."

I continued eating as Morgan talked some more. He blew out a candle and sat down at the table along with Duane and I.

"You shot that man today," Rick said.

"Man?" Morgan looked a bit amused at Rick's chosen words.

"It were no man," Duane piped up.

"The hell was just out ya' mouth just now?" Morgan scolded.

"It _wasn't _a man," the young boy corrected.

Rick walked towards the table, looking Morgan straight in the eye. "You shot him in the street out front - a _man_."

"A man? You need glasses. It was a Walker." Morgan moved some things around and pointed towards the chair beside him. "C'mon, sit down before you fall down." He spooned out some beans onto a plate for Rick.

"Yeah, Rick. Eat," I said and pushed the plate a bit more towards him.

Rick didn't refuse. He sat down in the chair in the blink of an eye and was about to shovel the food into his mouth.

"Daddy, blessin'," Duane said.

Morgan looked between Rick and I and said, "Yeah."

We joined our hands to say Grace.

"Father we thank The for this food. Thy blessings, and we ask you to watch over us in these crazy days. Amen." Morgan bowed his head to finish, his eyes on Rick the whole time.

"Amen," came from Duane.

We let go of each other's hands and started eating our food once again.

"Do either of you even know what's going on?" Morgan asked us.

I decided to speak first. "No...I don't think we do." I watched as the three of them watched me. "I woke up in the hospital...from a coma today."

"Me too," Rick said.

"You know about the dead people, right?"

"Yeah, I saw that," Rick said. "Out on the loading dock, piled in trucks."

"Naw, not the ones they put down. The ones they didn't...the Walkers. Like the one I shot today cause he'd of ripped into you," he paused, looking at me, "and you. Try to eat you, take some flesh at least. I guess if this is the first ya' hearin', I know how it must sound."

Rick looked as if it was a challenge at taking it all in.

"They're out there now?" I asked. "In the street, I mean?"

"Yeah...they're more active after dark sometimes. Maybe it's the cold air or Hell maybe it's just me firin' that gun today, but we'll be firin' as long as we stay quiet. Probably wandered off by mornin'."

"Oh," was all I could muster. I took a few bites of my food before wiping my mouth with a napkin. Hearing the words flesh and Walkers eating people made my stomach churn.

"Well, listen. One thing I do know is don't you get bit. I saw your bandage and that's what we were afraid of. Bites kill ya', the fever burns ya' out, but then after a while...you come back." Now Morgan was speaking to Rick, who was trying to put the puzzles together as I saw him gulp.

"I saw it happen," Duane mentioned. I turned my gaze onto him and watches as his father shushed him with his hand on his arm. The sorrow that filled the boys eyes killed me. Someone he must've loved was probably killed...or worse.

* * *

By the time we were finished eating I was already drained of all the energy inside me. Everything from today took a toll on me and I was about ready to pass out.

Morgan was sitting up beside his son on their bed, Rick was propped up against the couch on a small mattress, and I sat across him on my knees messing around with my fingernails, my eyelids hooded. It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Until Morgan opened his mouth.

"How'd ya' get into the accident?" He asked me.

At first, I didn't know how to answer. Truthfully, I had no clue as to what exactly happened to me. All I remembered was a party, loud music, and a car accident. Then, of course, being impaled by a tree branch. Then it's just blankness after that. I mentioned earlier to Morgan about the accident, but didn't go into full detail because I too wanted to know more about how I ended up there.

I finally found my voice and looked up at him from my nails. "I actually have no clue. I remember a party and a car accident. I was practically stabbed by a tree branch." I laughed humorlessly.

Morgan nodded slowly. "Family? Where are they?"

"Dunno," I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Any siblings?"

What was with the game of twenty questions? "Yeah, an older brother and sister. My brother and sister are, or did, go to Georgia State University in Atlanta. Hopefully my journey ends there and I'll find them along with my parents."

My parents were in the business industry and traveled around a lot. Last time I heard they were still in Georgia, but things could've changed and they might've relocated somewhere else, meaning it could be a lot harder to find them.

"I take it you're the youngest then?" He raised a brow.

"Yeah. I'm seventeen," I told him and then picked nervously at the hem of my hospital gown.

Morgan nodded and looked over at Rick. "Carl? He your son?" He asked. "Well, you, you said his name today."

"He's a little younger then your boy," Rick clarified.

"And he's with his mother?"

Rick sighed, "I hope so."

Suddenly, Duane stirred and started talking to his father. "Did you ask him?" He said from his place on the bed.

Morgan chuckled, "Your gunshot...we've got a little bet going. My boy said you're a bank robber."

Rick laughed at that. "Yeah, that's me, the deadliest Dillinger - kapow." I laughed at that. "Sheriff's deputy."

"Uh-huh," Morgan said slowly.

Nothing would've ever given me the impression that Rick was a sheriff. It left me sort of shocked, but after thinking about it for a bit, he seemed to fit the persona.

I jolted upright when a car alarm went off from outside. Duane did the same and I watched as Morgan soothed his son.

"One of them must've bumped a car," Morgan told him.

"You sure?" Rick asked, getting up from his spot on the mattress.

"It happened once before...went on for a few minutes."

"Get the light, Duane," Morgan said. He and Rick walked towards the windows and peered outside while I got the other lantern turned off.

I walked over and looked out at the car that had its headlights on and beeping repeatedly.

"Just have to wait until mornin'," Morgan told Rick.

Duane gasped, "She's here."

All I saw was a Walker in a nightgown come into view. It must've been someone important to Duane and Morgan.

"Don't look. Get away from the windows," Morgan said, and then when Duane didn't leave right off the bat, "I said go. Go on."

The woman was approaching the house with her head tilted to the side, watching us through the boarded up window. Rick and I remained standing there as I heard Duane start crying. It dawned on me that it must've been his mother, seeing as though she was no where to be seen.

The woman was walking around the house now onto the front porch. I hastily walked over and put my eye up to the peephole to see the woman now only feet away, the door blocking her from entering any further. Besides Duane's fit, I heard her footsteps on the wood and watched as the Walker surveyed the front door of the house. Its eyes landed on the peephole and stared into mine as if sensing I was watching. Then she inched her face away to look down at the doorknob.

It rattled on for a few moments and I walked back into the living area where I sat down.

"She, um...she died in that other room," Morgan began, "on that bed in there."

Rick and I finally looked over from the door to the older man.

"There was nothing I-I could do about it. That fever, man, her skin gave off a heat like a furnace." Morgan continued clutching at his son's body as he sobbed. "I should've-I should've put her down, man. I should've put her down...I know that, but I - you know what? I just didn't have it in me."

Well, who would? I probably wouldn't have the guts to put down someone I loved either.

Morgan sighed, "She's the mother of my child."

The rattling of the door continued and I pried my eyes away from their father-son embrace to look at the door. The brass doorknob kept turning with a very annoying squeaking sound. I'm surprised I got any sleep that night.

* * *

The next morning I awoke to see a pile of clothes beside me. It was a simple pair of jeans and white t-shirt. The jeans were probably worn by Morgan's wife. They didn't hug my body like I preferred when it came to jeans, but it's better than traveling around with a revealing hospital gown hanging from my body.

Morgan also handed me a pair of sneakers that were just my size before I sat down to eat breakfast. It wasn't much; just stale cereal and powdered milk. I didn't complain though because I practically inhaled it within two minutes. I was just that hungry.

After breakfast, Rick told the three of us that he had a plan in mind. He just grabbed a baseball bat and face shield visor, while Morgan took hold of a crowbar, and told us to follow him.

"Are the Walkers out there dead?" Rick asked when he placed his hand on the door knob.

"I'm pretty sure," Morgan said.

Rick nodded and swung open the door. We all followed him as he took a few steps out onto the porch. "Are we sure they're dead? I have to ask at least one more time."

"They dead, except for something in the brain. That's why it's got to be in the head."

We descended down the stairs and onto the sidewalk leading onto the main road. The Walker leaning up against the fence turned towards us and started groaning. He got up and came closer to us. That's when Rick swung the bat at his head and beat him down onto the ground. Blood covered Rick's visor and shirt from the beat down.

I noticed that Rick was now the one groaning, clutching his side.

"Y'all right?" Morgan asked after moving in front of him.

"I need a moment."

Without another word, Rick retreated back towards his own house with his visor off and threw it down once we got inside. I don't know what the point of that Walker beat down was and decided against asking him about it.

"They're alive - my wife and son. At least they were when they left," Rick said.

Morgan shook his head. "How can you know? By the look of this place-"

"I found empty drawers in the bedroom. They packed some clothes - not a lot, but enough to travel."

"You know anybody could've broken in here and stole them clothes, right?"

"You see the framed photos on the walls?"

I looked around and saw there were none.

"Neither do I," Rick stated. "Some random thief take those too, you think?"

Rick did have a point there.

"Our photo albums, family pictures - all gone."

Morgan laughed. "Photo albums." He took a seat at the table and proceeded to explain his cackling. "My wife - same thing. There I am packing survival gear, and she's grabbing photo alb..." He didn't finish. I could see by the look on his face that it hurt him to talk about it.

I blinked a few times to keep from tearing up. It was sad to see someone after they lost a loved one. Taking a few steps back, I walked into another part of the house when I heard Duane speak up.

"They're in Atlanta, I bet."

At the name I walked back into the dining room and stared at Morgan. "That's right," he said.

Curiosity struck me.

"Why there?" Rick asked.

"Refugee center. Huge one they said before the broadcast stopped; military protection, food, shelter. They told people to go there, said it'd be the safest."

"Plus they got that disease place," Duane mentioned.

"The Center for Disease Cont-" I interrupted Morgan.

"The CDC," I said. "My brother had an internship with them for awhile. I got to tour the place."

"Yeah, said they were working out how to solve this thing." Morgan continued on after peeling his eyes off me.

"So, wait, it's a disease then?" I questioned with my eyebrows knitted together.

"Apparently."

Rick walked out of the room and came back with keys in his hand. "Come on."

* * *

"Why are we here?" Were the first words out of my mouth as we walked into the town's sheriff department.

"You'll see," Rick told me and led the way down a hallway.

First he took us to the showers where there was running water. I yearned to have the hot water running down my body while I scrubbed my skin raw. I felt disgusted with how the world turned upside down and somehow made me feel like a decent shower was in order.

"Gas lines have been down for maybe a month," Morgan informed.

"Station's got its own propane system." Rick placed his hand under the water, giving us a nod. "Pilot's still on." The boys looked at each other with big grins on their face and I knew that it was finally time for a shower.

While the boys took theirs first, I spent time in the locker room. I heard them cheering and laughing from where I sat on the wooden bench. Looking around, I saw that the lockers looked untouched and wondered if anything was inside. Normally I wouldn't invade someone's privacy, I knew better. But I was just curious and had nothing else to do to pass the time so I got up off my seat and looked through each one.

The first few were empty, just filled with particles of dust. Then the next two I tried had a little surprise inside. I found a granola bar and fifty cents. It must've been my lucky day. I pitched the quarters and sat down, feeling the wrapper sleek against my skin. I contemplated on eating it all myself, but I remembered all that Morgan had done for me, as well as Rick who I saw as a good friend. So, I set it aside and waited for the showers to turn off to show them the treat I found.

In a few minutes all three of them walked into the locker room with towels wrapped around their waists. I shared a smile with them and threw the granola bar at Rick who caught it with ease.

"I expect a piece of that," I told him. Grabbing my towel, I walked over to the showers and peeled off my clothing. I threw them into a pile and turned on the shower.

The hot spray coaxed my body in relief once I was under it. It reminded me of how I took showers every single day, loving the water against my skin. That was before the outbreak. Now it was my duty to get used to not being clean for weeks at a time. It would be hard for me, but I'd adapt.

Images of my family flashed in my mind and tears threatened their way out. I thought of the possibility of no longer having a family. I didn't know if my mom or dad were alive, or if my sister or brother were. They could've been dead - or worse - one of those things that now entered my dreams every night. I felt the tears roll down my cheeks at that. I was completely alone in the world and it sucked.

I wiped my tears away and applied shampoo onto the palm of my hand. It had a manly smell to it, but I enjoyed it.

After lathering the shampoo over my hair and washing it out, I turned the faucet off and stepped out of the shower to retrieve my towel. I wrapped it underneath my arms, grabbed my belongings and made my way into the locker room where I saw Rick, Morgan, and Duane to be dressed and ready to go.

I tried not to chuckle at Rick in his uniform. He just gave me a look and pointed towards the changing rooms where I got dressed in a hurry.

* * *

I finally realized what the key was for when he unlocked the caged room. It was an armory.

"A lot of it's gone missing," Rick said.

"Daddy, can I learn to shoot?" Duane asked his father. "I'm old enough."

"Hell yes you're gonna learn. But we've got to do it carefully, teach you to respect the weapon."

"That's right. It's not a toy. You pull the trigger you've gotta mean it. Always remember that, Duane." Rick was messing around with a gun and handed it to me. "Know how to use this?"

I shook my head. "No." I've never touched a gun. If I did, my father would probably have my fingers. He never trusted me with his handgun growing up. It always stayed locked in his desk drawer in his office.

Rick sighed. "Looks like I'm going to have to teach you then."

I watched as Duane loaded up the bags with boxes of ammunition. I just stood there with my feet cemented to the ground feeling like a oblivious toy soldier with the gun in my hand that was new to training. I had literally no clue what I was going to do with it.

* * *

"Conserve your ammo." Rick opened up the door to the outside and we all walked up a set of stairs. "It goes faster than you think. Especially at target practice."

Apparently Rick was headed off to Atlanta, and I didn't get the chance to ask if I would be coming along. He did, however, ask Morgan and Duane, but they refused saying that Duane needed to learn how to shoot first.

I stood back and watched as Rick handed Morgan a walkie talkie. "You've got one battery, I'll turn mine on a few minutes everyday at dawn. You get up there, that's how you'll find me."

"You think ahead." It was obvious Morgan was impressed.

"Can't afford not to, not anymore."

"Listen, one thing - they may not seem like much one at a time, but in a group, all riled up and hungry - man, you watch your ass." Morgan's warning left chills down my spine.

"You too."

"You're a good man, Rick." Morgan shook hands with Rick before looking at me. "You too, and I hope you both find your families."

I shook Morgan's hand as a form of goodbye and sent a smile Duane's way. I'd definitely be missing them.

I turned around when I heard the growling sound coming from a Walker on the other side of the wired fence. I tucked a piece of hair behind my face and stared at it, knowing it couldn't get to us and would be a waste of ammo if we shot at it.

"Leon Basset?" Rick must've known the guy. The Walker was dressed in the same uniform as he, but it was dirtier. "Didn't think much of him - careless and dumb - but...I can't leave him like this."

"You'll know they hear the shot," Morgan said.

"It's not a waste of ammo, Rick," I told him.

He looked at me and sighed, taking out his gun anyway.

Knowing what he'd do I got into the police car and closed the door behind me. I heard the gunshot and in a few moments Rick was in the car giving me a curt nod of his head signaling we were on our way.

* * *

We were driving down a deserted road that was surrounded by fields and dead crops. Rick had the CB radio on and walkie in hand. I had my doubts about using it, but kept my mouth shut.

"Broadcasting on emergency channel. Will be approaching Atlanta on highway 85. Anybody reads, please respond." He let go of the buttons lining the walkie before going at it again. "Hello? Hello? Can anybody hear my voice? Anybody out there? Anybody hears me please respond. Hello? Can you hear my voice?" Rick went on repeating the same words. I kept my eyes locked outside the car the whole time.

Finally, he gave up. "Yeah, I don't think anybody's going to respond." I tried to somehow make light of the situation, earning a grin from Rick which would only be replaced with a frown as he looked at the fuel gauge. It was nearing empty.

After retriving a photo from the sun visor, he popped the trunk and looked at me straight in the eye. "I'm going to get gas. Stay here."

"No, I'm going with you," I protested.

"No, you're not."

"Watch me." Without letting him say anything more, I got out of the car and walked to the trunk and got the gas can. Rick already had the two bags of guns with him that he got from the back seat. I slammed the trunk.

"Careful. You don't want to attract attention," Rick warned.

"We're fine. We're in the middle of nowhere. There's nothing for miles."

He shook his head and both of us walked down the road until we came up to a white house with a rusty rooftop.

"Hello?" He yelled. "Police officer out here."

"Now who's the one drawing attention?" My arm fell limp at my side with the gas can in it.

Rick ignored me and walked towards the house, onto the front porch.

"Can I borrow some gas?" He was talking to nobody in particular, just people he assumed were inside.

Somehow the place gave me the chills, and it wasn't because of the breeze. I looked around at everything and saw a truck nearby, yet decided not to go near it.

Rick was now at the end of the porch and staggering backwards at whatever he saw through the window.

"Something gross?" I asked when he walked down the stairs and back into the grass.

"You have no idea." He spit on the ground and removed his sheriff hat.

Looking around again I heard the horse before I saw it. It let out a grumbling sound towards me and I lit up like a kid on Christmas. It's been years since I last saw a horse, or was in the vicinity of one. I was a horseback rider when I was younger. Not that I did it for myself, but for my mother's own pleasure.

"Rick," I said, pointing at the animal.

Before he did anything, I raced off into the barn and found myself a long black leash that I could easily wrap around the horse's neck. I kicked open the gate and walked near the horse, which neighed at me as if I were a predator.

"Easy, boy," I said. "I'm not gonna hurt you." I slipped the rope around its neck with ease and gave myself a smile for the little victory. "We're going to Atlanta. Hopefully there's food and shelter...maybe even a new home for you and I."

"You have a way with animals," Rick noted after I coaxed the horse out of the fencing.

"I was forced to do horseback riding growing up. I hated it, but loved the horses." I gave the horse a pat on its neck.

It didn't take long to get him saddled up for the ride. Rick was on first and then helped me up. Since I was behind him I had to carry the bag of guns on my back. It hurt my shoulder a bit because of the wound, although I pushed through the pain. I didn't want to seem weak.

The horse took off at full speed, causing me to laugh at how Rick said 'whoa' and 'easy' over and over again.

"I haven't done this for a long time," he said during his tirade. I gave him a pat on his shoulder as we were on our way to Atlanta.

* * *

After a long grueling hour of the sun hitting my back and the guns adding pressure to my shoulder, we were finally in Atlanta. I didn't really expect anything of it, really. It was deserted just like King County. To the right of us was a train pile up, and to the left was an abandoned traffic jam. I could see the skyline as we made our way towards the heart of the city.

We were maneuvering throughout the city without a scratch on us. The only thing you could hear were the horse's hooves against the pavement. It was eerily quiet besides that. It gave off a weird feeling.

The horse whined after we passed a bus that looked like it was recently set on fire. I could see bodies as we passed, and felt as though the heads moved a bit. It was probably paranoia screwing with me.

I was wrong.

Two Walkers exited the vehicle and the horse let out a neigh at them. "Steady," Rick said. "There's just a few. Nothing we can't outrun."

I didn't understand how Rick could be so positive about the whole thing. If there was two now, there could be twenty in no time. Being in a big city we were bound to run into a hoard or two.

Rick turned the horse onto another street. It was the same as the last; cars turned over, flyers cluttering the street, and two tanks to our right. The one closest to us had a dead body on it and crows were cawing as they picked at it.

"I don't feel-" I was going to say more, but then I heard something come from above us. "Do you hear that?"

Rick looked around and we both spotted the reflection of a helicopter on a large glass building.

"Hyah!" Rick pulled at the horses reins and the animal complied, running down the street.

It made a turn and we ran straight into a herd of Walkers. I let out a gasp.

All of the Walkers started coming after us and Rick made the horse take off back the way we came. That way wasn't any better. There was another group of them just as big as the last.

"Oh...shit," Rick cursed.

The horse kept standing up on its hind legs in fear as the Walkers rushed at it. Rick and I fell off and the hoard tore into the horse. A walker was on top of me, but I easily kicked him off.

The bag of guns would have to wait for now. I followed Rick underneath the tank, trying to keep the little strength I had left.

They were smart, I'd give them that. They actually had the brains to crawl under the tank with us. I kept calm when I saw Rick pull the pistol out of its holster on his waist.

Gunshots rang out and that's when I saw them move closer to us. Just as Rick pointed the gun towards his temple, he and I spotted an open hatch on the bottom of the tank. He let me go up first and then himself, pulling down the hatch after we were inside.

I was gasping for breath when we were inside. I couldn't believe I'd been so close to death. I couldn't imagine waking up as a Walker if I got bit.

Rick was across the tank next to another body. My eyes widened when I saw the body move after he took a gun from the Walker's holster.

"Rick!" I screamed. All I heard after that was the gunshot and a high pitched ringing sound. I clasped my hands over my ears at the sound, unable to focus on anything. It felt as if I was going to lose my hearing. It hurt so bad.

I didn't see Rick moving around. All I saw was the blackness dotting my vision.


	2. Guts

**Disclaimer****: **I do not own the Walking Dead. I do, however, own Savannah and any other additional OC's I bring in the future.

* * *

**_Guts: Chapter II_**

**_Savannah_**

As I began to lose focus of Rick, who was now coming back down from the open hatch above us, I heard the same static I would of a CB radio. I didn't make much of it as I shed a few tears onto the metal floor, believing it was just part of the ringing in the tank.

Rick came towards me through my blurry vision. I could hear him say something along the lines of 'are you okay' and 'just hang in there'. His words came out as gibberish, however, and he moved around me.

It didn't take long for the sounds to disappear and I was sitting up against the wall of the tank, looking at the dead Walker beside me with sweat beading my forehead. I scrunched up my nose at his appearance and looked over at Rick who was loading up the same handgun he stole from the Walker that sat only inches away.

Then the static returned.

It _was _coming from a CB radio. Rick and I looked up at it sitting there across the tank when a voice came through it. I cracked a smile.

"_Hey, you_," the voice said, "_dumbasses...yeah, you guys in the tank, you cozy in there?_"

To be honest, no. I was not at all cozy in here. It was hot, sweaty, and made my clothes literally stick to my body because of how humid the metal structure caused the temperature to heat up. I was really hoping that this mystery guy had a plan of getting us out of here. The fresh air, even though it too was hot, would feel great on my skin.

The voice spoke up again, "_Hey, you alive in there?_"

Rick hurried towards the walkie and hit his head on the ceiling in the process. I cringed at the sound his head against the metal made.

"Hello, hello?" Rick asked hurriedly.

"_There you are. You had me wondering._"

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see us right now?"

"_Yeah. I can see you. You're surrounded by Walkers...that's the bad news._"

Rick hesitated. "There's good news?"

"_No,_" the voice said, and I chuckled lightly.

"Listen, whoever you are I don't mind telling you I'm a little concerned in here," Rick said sternly.

"_Oh, man. You should see from over here. You'd be having a major freak out._"

I was having a freak out myself.

"Got any advice for me?"

"_Yeah. I'd say make a run for it._"

I looked at Rick, shaking my head a bit even though he had his back towards me. I was eager to get out of the tank, but with all the Walkers that surrounded it, I'd be a goner. Unlike me, Rick actually had a fighting chance.

"That's it?" Rick asked, as if not believing what the guy had said. "'Make a _run _for it'?"

"_My way's is not as dumb as it sounds. You've got eyes on the outside here. There's one geek still up on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down - you with me so far?_"

"So far."

"_Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you guys move now while they're distracted, you stand a chance - got ammo?_"

"In that duffle bag Savannah dropped out there and guns. Can I get to it?" Rick asked.

"_Forget the bag, okay? It's not an option. What do you have on you?_"

"Hang on." Rick dropped the walkie and grabbed onto the handgun that was on the ground near his feet. He checked the gun to see how much ammunition was in it and clicked it back into place.

While he did this, I checked the pockets of the Walker beside me, finding the jacket empty, and found a bomb of sorts on a shelf near its head. I threw it at Rick and he turned back towards the walkie.

"I've got a beretta with one clip - fifteen rounds."

"_Make 'em count. Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe fifty yards. Be there._"

Rick looked around the tank before finally speaking. "Hey, what's your name?"

"_Have you not been listening? You're running out of time._"

"Right," I heard Rick mumble. He grabbed the gun in one hand a shovel in the other, throwing the shovel back at me. I caught it and got ready to jump out of the tank. "You ready?"

_Not really. _"Yeah."

My breathing was heavy and Rick opened up the hatch. We both got out and the first thing I saw was the Walker inching towards us. I brought the shovel up above my head and hit him right in the jaw. It groaned in what I assumed was pain, but shook it off as we jumped down off the tank and into the direction the mystery guy told us.

Rick led the way, firing at every Walker in our path. I stayed behind him and swung at the ones he missed, feeling proud as they all fell to the ground. I felt powerful and I loved it.

We came up to the alleyway and the first thing I saw was an asian guy standing there holding the gate open for us. As an instinct, Rick held his gun in the guys face, but retreated once the kid started screaming that he wasn't dead.

"Come on, come on," he rushed. "Back here. Come on."

I was out of breath. I felt my chest heave in a way I've never experienced before. My legs grew weak and I noticed how I was staggering to catch up. I turned around and hit the Walkers that were coming towards me at a high speed.

We came up to a yellow ladder and the guys let me go up first. I thanked them silently and mounded the steps, hearing Rick fire a few more bullets at Walkers coming from a different direction.

The guy screamed out, "What are you doing? Come on!"

There was a small metal balcony we all stood on after we finished climbing, yearning for breath with our heads down towards the herd of Walkers clawing their way at the ladder.

"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town?" the guy asked. I tried to laugh, but my shoulder hurt. I winced at the pain.

"It wasn't my intention," Rick said.

"Yeah, whatever. _Yeehaw_. You're still a dumbass."

I loved how he wasn't throwing little joking insults at me.

"Rick. Thanks," Rick said, stretching out his hand for a shake.

"Glenn. You're welcome." Glenn shook his hand and Rick placed his empty gun into Glenn's backpack.

I swallowed. "I'm Savannah."

Glenn finally looked at me. "Bag dropper, I'm Glenn." We didn't shake hands and instead he looked over the edge of the railing. "Oh no."

I looked at what he was talking about and saw a Walker slowly making its way up the ladder. That wasn't good.

Glenn and Rick walked towards another ladder and looked up. "Bright side: It'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass half-full kind of guy."

Looking up, I started to panic. Heights and I weren't at all friends. They terrified me to a new extreme. "I-I can't."

Glenn looked at me. "You have to. Or the next thing on their menu tonight is you."

Both of them started climbing and I took my time contemplating the different outcomes if I chose to throw myself over the balcony or climb the ladder. I gnawed at my bottom lip, coming to the conclusion that I did want to live after all.

We finally made it to the rooftop and made our way over to each of the buildings.

"You the one that barricaded the alley?" Rick asked as we jumped over to a new roof.

"Somebody did - I guess when the city got overrun-"

We then started to run.

"-whoever did it was thinking not many geeks would get through."

"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for us?"

Glenn opened up a hatch that led inside the building. "Call it foolish, naive hope. That if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me." He threw his bag into the hole before making his descend into the darkness. "Guess I'm just a bigger dumbass than you."

All three of us made our way down until our feet were firm on tiled floor. Glenn led the way into more rooms and outside into a stairwell.

"I'm back," Glenn said into a walkie talkie. "Got a few guests plus four geeks in the alley."

I saw as we got back onto the ground that there were two Walkers stumbling at us. They weren't there for long because two people dressed in heavy black suited armor came running out of a door with baseball bats in their hands that they used to kill them. As they did this I ran in front of Rick and into the building, into someone's hands. They pushed me up against something.

It was a blonde lady with a gun in my face. "You bitch. We ought to kill you."

"Just chill out, Andrea. Back off," someone said.

My heart was pounding against my ribcage as I stared into the girls' eyes.

"Come on, ease up," another said.

"You're kidding me, right?" Andrea hissed. "We're dead because of these stupid assholes." She waved the gun into Rick's face, who was trying to get her to back off me, and then put it in my face again.

I didn't know what to exactly make of the situation. She said they were dead now and I stood there with confusion on my face as to how they're dead. I didn't see any Walkers around so the only one dying would be me, since the woman was waving a gun in my face.

A guy with dark curly black hair and a five o'clock shadow came up behind Andrea. "Andrea, I said back the hell off."

"Leave her be," Rick added.

I shifted my eyes at each person in the room, who looked like they were dying to know what'd happen next. Thankfully, she stepped back with tears in her eyes. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"We're dead - all of us - because of you," Andrea said.

"I-I don't understand," I said.

The guy with curly hair grabbed me by the forearm and pulled me along with him, everyone else following. "Look, we came into the city to scavenge for supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving!" He pushed a bit on my arm. "You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. corral."

"I didn't even shoot! I have no idea how to use a gun!" I said.

"She's right. It was me," Rick said, coming up beside us as we walked into the clothing department.

"...either way every geek from miles heard you poppin' off rounds," came from a man with dark skin and a Walkie Talkie in his hand.

We all turned our heads and saw Walkers outside of the store. They were pounding on the glass surface, fighting for a way in. I slowly backed away as everyone stared at the beings. I got what they were saying now. Walkers are attracted to sound so the gunshots would've drawn them in which was bad news for us.

"And you guys just rang the dinner bell," Andrea told us.

I saw cracks form on the glass. They were close to getting inside. One of them was even pounding on the glass with a large rock.

Everyone moved back farther into the department as they saw what I did. This was not good.

"What the hell were you doing out there anyway?" Andrea asked.

"Tryin' to find the helicopter," Rick said.

"A helicopter?" one of them asked. "Man, there ain't no helicopter."

Yet I saw it with my own eyes. There _was _a helicopter. I could see and hear it. Unless Rick and I were crazy, there was one flying somewhere over Atlanta, but it'd be useless to find it now. It was probably gone.

"It's just a hallucination, imagining things," a woman with dark olive skin told us.

Rick had enough by the looks of it. "I saw it."

I shook my head at their little argument and glanced at the Walkers in fear. There were more fractures painted onto the glass, and with the rock smashed against it they were only getting larger. In no time they'd be at our throats.

"Hey, T-Dog, try the CB," the man with curly hair told the one with dark skin. "Can you contact the others?"

T-Dog turned a few notches on the Walkie as Rick spoke up at the mention of other people. "Others?" the sheriff asked. "The refugee center?"

"Yeah, the refugee center. They've got biscuits in the oven for us," the one woman said with sarcasm laced in her voice.

T-Dog sighed, "Got no signal...maybe the roof."

At that there were gunshots coming from up above. I flinched in shock before it finally settled in that it was probably another person part of their group fending off Walkers.

"Oh, no. Is that Dixon?" Andrea groaned.

A few mutters came from the group and Glenn told Rick and I to come up to the roof with them. We made it in a hurry and saw a man wearing a leather vest pointing a shotgun at Walkers on the street below. That must've been Dixon. He kept firing rounds as the group attacked him with different insults.

"Are you crazy?" one screamed.

Dixon fired another bullet before turning around with a rough chuckle escaping his lips. "Hey, you oughta be more polite to a man with a gun, huh?" He jumped down from the ledge. "It's only common sense."

T-Dog was the first to rush at him. "Man, you wastin' bullets! That's all we got, man! And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill."

"Bad enough I've got taco-bender on my ass all day. Now I'm going to take orders from you?" Dixon sneered. "I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day."

"'That'll be the day'? You got something you want to tell me?"

"Hey, T-Dog man, just leave it." By now I didn't know the guys name that spoke up and was half tempted to call him taco-bender.

"No," T-Dog said.

"It ain't worth it," the guy said back. "Now, Merle, just relax, okay? We've got enough trouble."

I looked over at Glenn who only shrugged his shoulder at me.

"-you want to know the day?" Merle asked.

"Yeah."

"I'll tell you the day, Mr 'Yo'," Merle said and did some sort of thing with his hands as a representation of something. "It's the day I take orders from a nigger."

My eyes widened as T-Dog lunged at Merle at that comment. He threw a punch into the older man's face and retreated back when Merle hit him with the hilt of his gun. I didn't expect Rick to interfere, though he did just that. He put a hand on Merle's shoulder as a way to get him to back off, but he hit Rick across the face, causing him to go down. I hurried towards Rick's side to see if he was okay as everyone started carrying on around the fight.

Then the punches stopped. I heard what seemed to be a gun cocked back for a new bullet. T-Dog was whimpering and Merle was grunting something awful.

"Yeah, all right. We're gonna have ourselves a little powow, huh?" Merle began.

I turned around to see what was going on after Rick got to his feet and muttering that he was fine.

"Talk about who's in charge." Merle was standing there with the handgun waving around above T-Dog. "I vote me. Anybody else? Huh? Democracy time, y'all. Show of hands? C'mon let me see 'em."

They raised their hands slowly with a look of disgust on their faces. I didn't. I just stood behind Merle with an icy glare sent his way.

"Now...that means I'm the boss, right?" Merle asked. "Yeah. Anybody else?"

"Yeah," Rick said. He was standing beside Merle with the shotgun in his hand. He hit him with the hilt of it, sending Merle's form tumbling to the ground. Rick put a knee in his face as the redneck grunted in pain. He had his handcuffs in his hand and placed one on Merle's wrist, the other on a pipe to keep him from causing anymore trouble.

Rick grabbed Merle by the collar of his shirt as Merle spat out, "Who the hell are you, man?"

"Officer friendly." Rick turned around and grabbed his gun. "Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no 'niggers' anymore, no dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."

"Screw you, man."

Rick sighed with some sort of dark amusement in his eyes. "I can see you make a habit of missing the point."

"Yeah? Well, screw you twice."

"Ought to be polite to a man with a gun," Rick threatened, using Merle's own words against him. The gun cocked back and was now at Merle's temple. "Only common sense."

"You wouldn't," Merle ground out through his raspy voice. "You're a cop."

"All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son. Anybody gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think about that." Rick patted down Merle and found a small vile of white powder in his pocket. "Got some on your nose there." Rick flicked his nose and threw the vile at me.

I didn't know what to do with it and just stared at the white powder through the plastic. It disgusted me that this man would screw up his life just to get high by snorting it up his nose.

"What are you going to do? Arrest me?" Merle laughed and then his eyes narrowed as he saw me with his stash in his hand. "Give it back."

_Or what? _I was tempted to say, but instead threw it over the edge of the roof.

"Hey! That's my stuff!" Merle screamed. "If I get loose, you'd better pray - yeah, you hear me, you bitch!"

I turned around, gulping, "Sadly, I do."

"God. It's like time square down there," Andrea said from beside me, looking at the Walkers that covered the pavement.

"Try the signal again," someone said.

T-Dog tried it again. "It's like Dixon's brain - weak."

"Try it again, maybe," I suggested.

"Nothing they can do," Andrea said, "not a damn thing."

"Got some people outside the city is all. There's no refugee center. That's a pipe dream," taco-bender said.

Rick turned to us. "Then she's right. We're on our own. It's up to us to find a way out."

The annoying voice of Merle Dixon returned. "Good luck with that. These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear."

"Do you ever stop talking?" I asked without thinking. I turned around to stare at Merle who was trying to sweet talk Andrea.

He grinned. "What about you, cupcake? Want to get these off me so you and I can, well, you know-"

"I'd rather eat my own arm." I turned back towards the view of the city before us. The clouds above were darkening with each passing moment and there was a clang of thunder every now and then. I wondered what it was like for Walkers during a storm. They probably went into a frenzy at the sound.

I wasn't paying attention to what Rick was saying until he mentioned something about the sewers. Apparently we could find a sewer and escape the city that way. I doubted it, resting my arm on the ledge and propping my head up. I would let them do their thing. I'd just stay back and keep my mouth shut.

In a few minutes an agreement was made and I was forced to stay on the rooftop with T-Dog and Merle. Rick made it seem like I had to babysit the two from bickering or the possibility Merle getting out of the cuffs. I didn't complain.

"How'd you get into this mess?" T-Dog's voice cut off my thoughts.

"Um, I woke up from a coma in the same hospital as Rick and we just kept to each other during this whole thing. Now we're here," I shrugged. "There really isn't a real reason as to how we got into this mess, you know?" I slid down to sit next to him.

"Yeah."

I crossed my legs as quietness dawned on us. Merle was sitting there looking bored out of his mind and T-Dog was trying the signal again. There might've been a good chance that the signal wasn't working very well because of the storm that I could hear coming. Of course, I'm no expert when it comes to those things so anything could explain why it wasn't working perfectly.

"Anybody out there?" He asked into the walkie. "Hello? Anybody read? I'm hoping to hear somebody's voice 'cause I'm getting sick and tired of hearing mine."

"Yeah, well, that makes two of us," Merle said. "Why don't you knock that crap off? You're giving me a headache, boy."

"Why don't you pull your head out of your ass? Maybe your headache will go away."

Merle chuckled.

"Try some positivity for a change. Damn."

"I'll tell you what - you get me out of these cuffs and I'll be all 'Sammy Sunshine' positive for you." Merle pointed towards a bag of tools. "Hey, see that hacksaw over there in that tool bag? Get it for me, hmm? Make it worth your while. What do you say, man? Come on get me out of these things."

"Nobody is doing anything," I told him. "The only thing we're doing is searching for a signal so please do us both a favor and be quiet before I take the hacksaw and shove it down your throat." I wasn't the kind of girl to go around and threaten people, but there was something about Merle that made me tick.

Merle glared at me. "What makes you think you can come in here and order me around, huh?"

"I'm not ordering you. I'm _suggesting_ you do it before I do something I'll regret later."

"Like some little teenybopper is gonna hurt me. You look like you're all bark and no bite."

I looked over at the shotgun a few feet away from me, knowing he had a point. "No, but that gun will."

Merle looked at me through a unfriendly gaze when the door opened back up and the group walked back onto the roof. I jumped up to my feet to see if they found a way out.

"Anything?" I asked.

"Nothing," Glenn said, shaking his head at me.

They walked over to the edge of the roof where Rick was handed a pair of binoculars. He was scanning the road before he finally handed them back. "That construction sight, those trucks - they always keep keys on hand."

I learned quickly that the guys name that tried breaking up Merle and T-Dog's fight was named Morales. He was glancing over the edge and shook his head, "You'll never make it past the Walkers."

Rick stepped back and looked at Glenn. "You got me out of that tank."

"Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted," Glenn said.

"Can we distract them again?"

"Right," Merle said, "Listen to him. He's onto somethin'. A diversion, like on 'Hogan's Heroes'."

"God. Give it a rest," Jacqui, the dark skinned woman, said.

"They're drawn by sound, right?" Rick asked, everyone looking over at him.

"Right, like dogs. They hear a sound they come," Glenn said.

"What else?"

"Aside from they hear you? They see you, smell you, and if they catch you, they eat you," Morales informed us.

"They can tell us by smell?" Rick looked as if he didn't believe Morales one bit.

"Can't you?" Glenn asked.

Andrea looked between them. "They smell dead, we don't. It's pretty distinct."

I caught on to what Rick was thinking by the look in his eyes. In my stomach I knew this wasn't going to be pretty.

* * *

We made it back down into the clothing department where Rick proceeded to shove rubber gloves and large coats into our hands. I stared down at the coat and gloves in disgust at something Rick mentioned a little bit ago. He said we'd have to cover ourselves with Walker guts to get to a truck that he spotted earlier through the binoculars. It was a good idea, I'd give him that, but it made my stomach churn.

I put on the coat and slipped the thick purple gloves onto my hands as we walked towards the back entrance. Rick and Morales ran outside in a rush to grab one of the two bodies that were killed when we first came in. They brought it inside and set it down on the pavement.

"Are...are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked, looking over the Walker.

Rick placed a sheild over his face and didn't look back at me. "Have any other options?"

My stomach sunk and I narrowed my eyes at his back in defeat.

After getting a crowbar, ax, and baseball bat, Rick came over to stand over the body with us. I was staring at its head when Rick almost brought the ax down. I looked at him when he threw both the sheild and weapon onto the ground and raided the Walker's pockets for anything.

He found a wallet and sighed, "Wayne Dunlap, Georgia license, born in 1979." He handed Glenn Wayne's ID. "He had $28 in his pocket when he died...and a picture of a pretty girl." Rick took the picture from its place in the wallet and flipped it over. "'With love, from Rachel' - he used to be like us; worryin' about bills or the rent or the Super Bowl. If I ever find my family, I'm gonna tell them about Wayne."

I gnawed on my bottom lip as I watched Rick put the wallet back inside the pocket and picked up the visor, placing it on his head, and getting the ax back in his hands.

"One more thing," Glenn told us, "He was an organ donor."

Before I had time to digest the information, blood was beginning to form on our coats. I looked over to see Rick hacking at the limbs of Wayne's lifeless form, everyone moaning in disgust. I tried my hardest not to faint at the sight of guts going everywhere.

Rick stumbled back, taking off the visor at the smell that must've formed in the room. He threw the sheild and ax at me. "Keep chopping."

I hestiated before I began throwing down the weapon, watching as intestines came out from underneath the skin. If I wasn't sick before, I was now. The sight of the organ spewing all over the place made me want to hurl.

I stopped after noticing that there were enough guts and gore to go around. Rick started speaking from above me and I fought back the cringe that was about to break out on my face. We all crouched down with our gloved hands to pick up bloody goo. I let out a groan at the stench that burned my nose. I could practically taste the blood.

Each one of us covered both Rick and Glenn with the blood and organs. I picked up the large intestine and threw it over Glenn's neck, making sure I didn't get anything on his neck. He wasn't too pleased about that. This only resulted in Glenn emptying his stomach right near his feet.

"This is just evil," Andrea said, looking over at Rick. "What is wrong with you?"

"Next time," Jacqui said, "let the cracker beat his ass."

"You suck," Glenn said from his crouched position over his vomit.

After a few more handfuls we stepped back to look at Rick and Glenn. I felt bad for them, especially Glenn. Neither one of them deserved to be covered in Walker guts.

"Do we smell like them?" Rick asked.

I coughed, "Yeah."

"We make it back, be ready," Rick said.

"Um, what about Merle?" I asked in a small voice.

Rick grabbed the handcuff's keys from his pocket and threw them at me, which I easily caught after I took off my gloves.

Andrea placed her gun in Glenn's belt and Morales gave Rick the ax after he asked for it. Believing that the chopping was done and over with, I didn't expect Rick to go back in for more. Everyone, including me, let more disgusted sounds come out of our mouth at the sound of bloody flesh against sharp metal.

* * *

After the men were out the door with weapons in hand, we all rushed upstairs to the roof to keep an eye on them from a birds eye view.

"Hey, what's happening?" Merle asked us first thing once we got up to the roof.

We all ignored him and went to T-Dog where Morales told him to try the CB again.

"Hey, come on, talk to me, y'all," Merle said once again.

I heard T-Dog begin asking if anybody was out there for the millionth and braced my hands against the rooftop ledge to look out below at Rick and Glenn. I couldn't see them at all until Morales pointed out where they were. Then the thunder began rumbling louder which caused me to glance up in frustration.

Merle just wouldn't let up. "That asshole is out on the street with the handcuff keys?"

I turned to him with the key in my palm, waving it in the air at him. I could see him grit his teeth, causing me to chuckle.

It didn't take long for the thunder to worsen, making my foot tap against the roof in anxiousness. I was probably close to gnawing off my lip too. It was one of the many things I did when I was nervous about something. Just watching the guys try their hardest to blend in made my stomach worsen. I was nervous for _them_, not for me.

Then the rain started. I heard it hit the concrete with little patters - already telling myself this was a recipe for disaster as a roll of thunder kept going at it. My eyes were fixed on Rick and Glenn, never leaving them as they inched slowly down the street towards their destination. Knowing it was raining, the water could easily take the smell away and reveal that they weren't Walkers.

"It's just a cloudburst. We get 'em all the time. It'll pass real quick," Morales reassured me.

I knew that it wouldn't be quick enough, however.

In an instant I could see Rick and Glenn throw their weapons at the Walkers that ran at them. It did take such courage to do so, but I guess if you were being attacked you had to do what you had to do.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw they made it over the gate and into a truck. But my relief was soon replaced with worry when I saw they were going a different way.

"They're leaving us," Andrea said. "No, no. Come back."

"Where are they going?" Morales asked to no one in particular.

Panic hit me like a bucket of ice water. They couldn't be leaving us. I shook my head and stepped back from the ledge, swiping my watered down curls behind my ears in thought. I tried to reassure myself that Rick was coming back. He wouldn't just leave me here, would he? I considered him to be a friend after what we've been through together so nothing could really add up to why he wouldn't come back for us. Maybe Rick wasn't the kind of person I thought after all.

My thoughts were interrupted by the static coming from the Walkie Talkie in T-Dog's hand. It was Glenn.

"_Those roll-up doors at the front of the store facing the street - meet us there and be ready._"

We all hurried around each other to get what we needed to get. So they weren't leaving us after all. That was good - no, that was great.

"Come on. Let's go, let's go."

I didn't even look up at who was speaking. My mind was just fixed on the fact that we were getting out of here. I was just about to get towards the door when I heard Merle from behind me.

"You can't leave me!" he said. "Don't leave me here, you guys!"

"Come on!" I heard someone scream for me.

Morales disappeared down the stairs and left me there. I looked back at Merle and got the key out of my pocket.

"You can't leave me here!" he told me. "You can't, it's not human."

I walked towards him and knocked over a bag of tool in the process. I was a good person. Even though there was something about Merle that made me want to throw myself off the roof, he didn't deserve to be left up there all alone.

I must've caught my foot on something or tripped over a rock because I lost my balance and fell face first onto the ground. The key flew out from my hand and into a drain. It all happened in slow motion and I tried not to look at the panic on Merle's face. I would loose it because I didn't want to seem like the bad guy. Yeah, I may have thrown a petty threat at him earlier, but I couldn't let the guy up there.

"You little bitch!" Merle snarled. "You did that on purpose!"

"No, no I didn't," I said with sadness on my face.

"You lie! You did it on purpose!"

I got up on my feet, staring him in the eyes. "I'm so sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to."

He kept screaming for me as I pushed my way towards the door to the stairs. As much as I hated leaving him, I couldn't sacrifice my ride to their camp just for one person who threw insults at me over a little accident.

I threw open the door and stopped outside of it. There was a chain hanging beside the door handle and lock on the floor which sparked an idea. I turned around and locked the door, hoping that would keep away whoever approached the rooftop.

My anxiety set in as I bound down the steps. I hoped they didn't leave yet. If they would I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

The store's doors were now shattered to pieces, and I watched in horror as Walkers flooded inside the clothing department. My anxiety set it which only made me run faster towards the door where we'd be meeting up with Rick and Glenn.

Thankfully, I made it just in time when they were pulling the chain lever. "Let's go! The Walkers are inside!" I said, helping them open the metal garage door.

We all jumped inside the truck after the door was up which wasn't a good motive for me since I landed on my wounded shoulder. I hissed between gritted teeth at the shot that ran down my arm. Although I couldn't complain for long because we were finally on the road and away from the Walker infested building.

I pulled myself up and leaned against the wall, feeling the gaze of everyone on me. "I...uh...I dropped the key."

Nobody said anything to me about it and just continued staring at each other.

Frowning, I looked around at everyone, realizing we were down one person besides Merle. "Um, where's Glenn?"


	3. Tell it to the Frogs

**Writer's Note**** - **So, after rewatching The Walking Dead, I realized there'll be some important things I need to include that Savannah can't always be around for. She can't be in three places at once so that means I'll be including different point of view's every now and then. You'll see that I'm adding names when it comes to their POV so you won't be lost. Although, a majority of the story will be told in Savannah's POV. On another note, I didn't get a lot of feedback, but I did enjoy the few follows/favorites and review the story got. Thanks to those that did so and to those that are reading the story. You're great!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the Walking Dead. I do, however, own Savannah and any other OC's I decide to include in the future.

* * *

**_Tell it to the Frogs: Chapter III_**

**_Savannah_**

"_Um, where's Glenn?_"

Nobody told me anything. I just sat back with a sigh escaping my lips, staring at the wooden wall above T-Dog's head as Rick flew down the highway at full speed.

Morales spoke from up front in the next few minutes. "Best not to dwell on it." It was a question pointed towards me, and I think, Rick too-since he was the one who handcuffed him in the first place. I just dropped the key down a drain pipe like the klutz I am. "Merle got left behind."

From where I sat, I watched as Rick gave him a look. I'd give him that same look too if I was sitting beside him. How could I _not _dwell on it? Merle was stuck up there. Even if I did lock the door, there was a great chance that Walkers could squeeze their way through towards him. If he was lucky, and I mean _really _lucky, he may just find a way out of the handcuffs.

Morales' voice pulled me from my thoughts, "Nobody's gonna be sad he didn't come back...except...maybe Daryl."

_Daryl? _As if reading my thoughts, Rick asked him who he was.

"His brother."

Oh, great. So Merle had a brother who was probably going to take his anger out on me or Rick. Probably me, at best guess. Since, well, I did fail to get him out of the handcuffs before we left.

I slouched my shoulders with a pout on my lips. Now, I felt worse than before.

Suddenly, a car alarm approached the truck. I heard it from outside and could hear Glenn as he raced by, pumping his fist into the air outside his window after I stood up to see what all his commotion was about.

Well, that answers my question.

"At least someone's having a good day," Morales said with a small smile.

I sighed to myself before walking back to my spot on the warm wooden floors. All the while thinking about how I was going to get out of the situation I was in.

Before I knew it, the truck came to a stop once we drove up this dirt road on the outskirts of Atlanta. I looked through the windshield to see a camp set out with people littering the place. Nervousness settled in my stomach, but I pushed past it, shaking my head, and jumped out the back of the truck.

As soon as I did, I saw Rick embracing who I assumed was his wife and son. I smiled. I was happy for him to find his family. Now it was only a matter of time until I found my own.

* * *

We all sat around the campfire. The heat took away from the chill of the summer night, and I was thankful. I got along with everyone pretty well and made a few friends so far. Everyone was so nice and polite, but I didn't really suspect anything else. Well, I did expect to be screamed at by Daryl. Although, he was nowhere in sight.

"...disoriented comes closest," Rick said, telling us all about his experience waking up in the hospital. "Fear, confusion...all those things but disoriented comes closest."

I could relate. When I woke up in the hospital, I had no idea that the Earth was in shambles. I was scared, overall. I mean, who wouldn't be? There was walking corpses, blood and guts, and most importantly, kids hitting grown men over the head with shovels.

"Words can be meager things," Dale said while sitting down his cup of coffee. "Sometimes they fall short."

"I'd felt like I'd been ripped out of my life," Rick continued, "and put somewhere else. Before Savannah came along I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not ever wake up from ever."

A few eyes lifted towards me.

Carl, Rick's son, looked up at him from where he sat on his Dad's lap. "Mom said you died."

Rick stifled a chuckle. "She had every reason to believe that. Don't you ever doubt it."

Lori, his wife, placed a hand on her son's forehead and cast a nervous glance at her husband. "When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta, and it never happened."

"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell. And form the look of that hospital, it got overrun."

"Yeah," came a voice that belonged to Shane. I looked over at him. "Looks don't deceive. I barely got them out, you know?"

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane," Rick said. "I can't begin to express it."

Dale looked around. "There go those words falling short again...paltry things."

Through the silence the cracking of wood sounded through our campsite. I heard Shane speak up to the group beside us consisting of Caroline, Sophia, and her husband Ed.

"Hey, Ed? Want to rethink that log?" Shane asked.

"It's cold, man." Ed didn't seem to care by the way his voice didn't waver.

It was obvious Shane was angry over it. "Cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?"

"I said it's cold," Ed persisted. "You should mind your own business for once."

Uh-oh. By the way Shane's face hardened and the stomp in his step was heavier than usual, I could tell as he walked over to them that this wasn't going to be good. I hoped it wasn't going to get too crazy, though. The last thing we needed was a full blown argument or fist fight.

It didn't take long for Shane to come back with a satisfied look in his eyes. He sat down before Dale cut through the silence.

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind."

Once I got settled in I decided to break the news that I dropped the key, and Rick chipped in saying he was the one who handcuffed him in the first place, placing blame on our shoulders. Nobody really looked sad about it, which surprised me. I figured since they all lived only steps away every night they'd get along with each other. That meant they'd be sad over someone disappearing. Seemingly that wasn't the case.

"I'll tell him," I said quietly. "I'll tell him I dropped the key. I mean, it's pretty much my fault anyway."

"I cuffed him. That makes it mine." Rick looked up at me.

Glenn rolled his eyes from my side. "Guys, it's not a competition. I just think...it'll be better coming from Rick."

"I dropped the key. I...was responsible for getting him out of those handcuffs." I picked at my nails in anxiousness, thinking about how I was going to tell this Daryl fellow that his brother is cuffed to rooftop that's surrounded by Walkers. It's not going to be easy.

"We could lie," Amy said.

Andrea sighed, "Or tell the truth. Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed." She glanced at Lori. "Your husband did what was necessary, and if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's."

"And that's what we _tell _Daryl?" Dale shook his head. "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?" He paused, as if trying to put his words into sentences. "Word to the wise, we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt."

And I couldn't comprehend what exactly I was getting into. "I was scared...I thought if I took the time to get him out of those cuffs, you guys would be gone." I also didn't like the fact that if they did leave that I would be stuck with Merle from there on out. It sent a chill down my spine in disgust.

"We were all scared," Andrea said, narrowing her eyes. "What's your point?"

Did I really even have a point to make? I thought the question over quietly, contemplating what to say next, until I realized I'd chained the door shut. "I got to chain the door shut. There's a possibility that he's still up there. Maybe...unless the Walker's managed to squeeze through onto the roof." I brushed my hands onto my jeans. "Don't count me on it, but he may still be alive."

Hope spread within me once I said that. I could definitely redeem myself if we saved him from that rooftop.

* * *

I woke up in a tent that was a light green color with gray colorblocking. It was the tent of some guy that was on the hunting trip with Daryl. He wouldn't be back until today so I was free to sleep in there, given there was another sleeping bag along with the one I guessed was his own.

My eyes fitted over the black suitcase and leather messenger bag that sat up against the firm cotton walls of the tent. Something about them looked oddly familiar. I just couldn't place why they did.

Blinking a few times, I sat up in the red sleeping bag. My curls were messy as I ran my hand through them. That's the downside to having curly hair like mine; I could never tame it.

At my feet were a stack of clothes; tight fitted jeans, white t-shirt, and a flannel. I got them on quickly, loving the fit that these jeans had that my previous ones didn't. The flannel was a little large, but it added extra comfort and warmth to myself. Not that I needed it because of the hot Georgia sun.

After slipping my shoes on, I exited the tent. I saw across the camp as Rick talked to Carol who was doing the laundry.

"Hey." T-Dog came up beside me, flashing a friendly smile my way. "You want to help me carry firewood?"

"Yeah, sure."

We walked down this small bend and I started stacking firewood after each cut that T-Dog made with his ax. None of the pieces were heavy, and I hardly broke a sweat. The only person sweating was T-Dog. I scrunched my nose up at the smell of BO.

"What?" T-Dog asked, chuckling.

"Oh, nothing." I brushed my hands together to get the wood chips off my hands while I heard the sound of children screams disappearing. "What do you think that's about?"

T-Dog breathed a sigh of relief after chopping the last of the wood, looking up at me. "Have no clue." He set the ax down and took a stack of wood in his arms.

I did the same and we both walked back to camp making small chit-chat. As we came closer I heard the sound of someone yelling angrily. It was probably Daryl.

Both of us came into view and I looked up from T-Dog, my heart dropping and my breath slowing. I saw Rick talking to Daryl, reassuring him. But it wasn't those two that I had my eyes on. It was the man with broad shoulders, short curly hair, and a dark scruffy beard-goate thing going on.

I dropped the wood, causing a few heads to snap in my direction. "Trevor?"

My brother turned towards me, a surprising smile appearing on his face. I practically knocked him over as I ran towards him, throwing my arms around his neck and stuffing my face into his denim clad shoulder.

"Oh my God," I cried.

His arms wrapped around me, hugging me back. I didn't even care if everything was silent around us, if people were staring or not, because I was _here _in my _brothers _arms. This was certainly a change of events. A good change, one that I didn't even believe was true until I pulled back from him and stared at his blue eyes.

"Hey, 'Sav," he said.

I gave him a smile, happiness flooding my veins. It was my lucky day.

"...he's still up there." Rick's voice pulled my gaze away from my brother. I didn't even hear him start talking again to Daryl, who looked like he was seconds away from nailing Rick in the face.

Daryl turned around, rubbing a hand over his face. "Hold on. Let me process this." He turned back to Rick, anger in his voice. "You're sayin' you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you _left him there_?"

Rick looked at the ground. "Yeah."

Daryl grunted and threw a bunch of squirrels at Rick. He made a move to attack him when Shane poppedo ut of nowhere and pushed Daryl onto the ground.

"Whoa, hey!" Trevor turned towards Daryl.

A glint of metal came from Daryl's pocket, and I noticed it was a knife. I was worried as Trevor took a few steps towards Daryl. The older guy was now trying to attack Rick with a knife. But because Rick was an experienced police officer, Shane too, they managed to get Daryl to back off by putting him in a choke hold.

"Best let me go!" Daryl choked out.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't," Shane said as he lowered Daryl to the ground._  
_

"Choke hold's illegal."

"You can file a complaint." Shane wasn't loosening his grip. "Come on man. We can keep this up all day."

When Shane got Daryl down onto his knees, Rick came to their level. "I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" Silence. "_Do you think we can manage that_?"

Daryl said nothing which in turn he threw Daryl away from him onto the ground.

"What I did was not on a whim," Rick continued. "Your brother does not work and play well with others."

That's when the words came from my mouth without even thinking first. "It's my fault." Everyone turned to look at me. "I had the key and dropped it."

Daryl shook his head. "You couldn't pick it up?"

I bit my lip. "It fell down a drain."

Daryl lowered his head and I felt bad for him.

"I..." I was going to say more but Daryl was at his feet and chucked a fistful of dirt towards my feet.

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Obviously it wouldn't. But I locked the door. I managed to chain it up to keep Walkers from getting on the roof. He's probably still up there." I watched him shake his head some more.

"Its's gotta count for something," Rick told us.

Daryl looked like he might cry; though the look that flashed in his eyes told me otherwise. "Hell with all y'all." His voice softened. "Just tell me where he is...so I can go get him."

Lori's voice came from the steps of the RV, and she didn't sound too happy. "He'll show you. Isn't that right?"

Rick took a moment, placing his hands on his hips, and nodded his head. "I'm going back."

I didn't know what to think. I just stared at the husband and wife dilemma in front of me. Lori gave him a look of disapproval, but didn't say anything else and entered the RV. Rick, on the other hand, walked back to his tent.

I heard a whistle coming from my brother, who just shook his head. "I take it that's Lori's husband?"

"Yep," I said, popping the 'p'.

My brother looked at me thoroughly, grinning. "You look..."

"Like a sewer rat?" I asked, hopping to make light of the atmosphere in the place. "Something you fished out of your shower drain? All the possibilites."

"I was going to say nice for someone who got out of a coma and put into a shitty world, but sewer rat works too."

I quirked a eyebrow. "You know, if Dad was here right now, he'd give a long lecture about that kind of language."

"But he's not. So I 'ought to make the most out of the Dad free days I have left."

My eyes lowered, kicking a stone by my feet. "Do you...do you think we'll find them? Mom and Dad, I mean?"

Trevor shrugged. "I hope so."

"Did you talk to them before this whole thing happened?"

"Every night. You know that."

"Yeah, but were they at home when this happened or what?"

Another shrug.

"Stop with the shrugging! I need details."

Trevor chuckled. "They were in Florida last I spoke to them."

_Oh. _I was a little offended that they didn't want to stick around and check up on me, and instead, go on trips out of the blue. "What about Sadie?"

"I didn't see her at all before the outbreak. I saw Katie, though. She told me Sadie was at some party the night before. Maybe she stuck with the other college kids wherever she was and made it out of this thing."

Katie was Sadie's best friend, roommate, other half, and practically sisters compared to Sadie and I. In fact, I don't think we've ever really bonded unless it was over 80's chick flicks. And that was every once in a blue moon.

Trevor and I were much closer. Before the accident, I remember always calling every night to check up on him. He meant _that _much to me, and still means that much to me. If anything would happen to him, I'd go insane and couldn't live with myself.

I gave him a nod and pushed a curl behind my ear.

A shape from the corner of my eye made me turn my head. Daryl was sitting there on a log, fiddling with something I couldn't see. It was now that I got a good look at him. He looked scruffy, but a good scruffy. _Wait, did I seriously just say that? _This man was in his mid-thirties and looked like bad news. I mean, he pulled a _knife _out earlier - and now I was thinking about how good he looked? If that wasn't worse, he was also a lot older than me. If I were to even think about him in _that _way or breathe in his direction, and my father was here, he'd have a fit. A huge one.

My mother would too. But at least she'd be calm and civil about it.

Rick emerged from the tent seconds later. He was buttoning up his uniform and approaching Shane, who turned his head and started speaking.

"Could you just tell me why?" Shane asked after Rick started walking away.

I could hear them now. Actually, I'm pretty sure everybody could hear them.

"Why would you risk your life for some douche bag like Merle Dixon?"

Daryl's head snapped up. "Hey, choose your words more carefully."

"No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant," Shane said firmly. "Merle Dixon...guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

"What he would of wouldn't do doesn't interest me," Rick said. "I can't let a man die of thrist - me. Thirst and exposure...We left him like an animal caught in a trap."

_Only worse. _

"That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being." Rick stalked off, Shane watching his every movement in tautness in his face.

Lori was sitting around the fire with Carl beside her. "So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?"

Rick looked at Glenn for reassurance, and Daryl looked at Trevor.

"Oh, no," I said just as Glenn says 'Oh, come on'. "You are not going out there when I just got you back."

"He's a good shot," Daryl's gruff voice said. I turned my gaze to him. "He has some use."

"Yeah, as food."

Trevor put his hands on his hips, turning to me. "I've gotta go, 'Sav. They need me."

"What they need is a reality check. You can't go out there. At least, not without me."

Trevor's eyes widened. "No, no way. You are not going out there."

"But I survived all this time with Rick, and with you by my side and..." my eyes scanned the men joining us. "...these macho guys with me, what can go wrong?"

"Macho?" Trevor tried to hide his laugh. "No offense, but it doesn't look like Glenn could throw a punch."

"Hey!" Glenn said from beside us.

"Well, that's just great!" Shane said. "Now you're going to risk three men now?"

"Four," I call out without thinking.

Trevor gave me a look.

Daryl looks at me from his arrows in his hands, which he's polishing, and scoffs. "My day just gets better and better, don't it?"

I narrowed my eyes. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm trying to help here."

"What help'll you do? Other than stand around and work on ya' tan?"

Tan? I looked down at my once white, pasty skin, noticing it got a little darker. I wouldn't consider myself tan, though.

"That's five," Dale chimed in before I could say something to Daryl.

Shane added, "It's not just four. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick." He pointed at the guy in question. "Come on, you saw that Walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities."

I didn't know what Walker they were talking about, so I just stood there and waited patiently for my turn to talk.

"They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp."

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns."

"Right, the guns," Glenn said hopefully.

We all turned our heads toward the Asian standing beside the red Camaro.

"Wait," Shane asked, "what guns?"

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left." Rick explained. "Savannah dropped the bag in Atlanta when we got swarmed. It's just sittin' there on the street, waiting to be picked up."

"Ammo?"

"700 rounds, assorted."

"You went through hell to find us," Lori mentioned. "You just got here and you're gonna just turn around and leave?"

Carl shook his head. "Dad, I don't want you to go."

Aw, my heart broke a little bit.

"To hell with the guns," Lori said. "Shane is right. _Merle _Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in." By now, Lori was using all the emotion she could in her voice to make Rick change his mind. "Tell me. Make me understand." She stood up from the her place on the wood and stared her husband down.

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy." Lori didn't seem to want to listen to Rick's words. He practically forced her to look at him. "Lori, if they hadn't taken me or Savannah in, we'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the trap I did if I don't warn 'im."

"What's stopping you?"

I turned myself away from their conversation to look at Trevor. He was placing a bag onto his back and put a knife into the sheath on his belt.

"Can I have one?" I asked.

"Have what?"

"A knife...gun...a weapon to protect me. What else?" I cross my arms and stared at the blade popping out from the leather. "Please?"

I could tell he was contemplating his answer, yet he gave in and a smile appeared on my face when he took the sheath from his belt and plucked it onto me with the knife intact. I felt powerful with it on me, like I could do almost anything and fight anything without a single bruise on me.

If only that was the case.

* * *

The ride into town was short. I sat in the back with Trevor and Daryl, while Glenn and Rick took the front seats. I watched in silence as the two men talked about hunting and shooting, stuff that pre-apocalypse Trevor wouldn't be interested in. Now he sounded like a big old redneck. Just like Daryl.

I kept myself occupied by creating scenarios in my head of different things; before the apocalypse, and post-apocalypse. It was just something I did to keep my mind off of reality.

Before I knew it, the truck came to a stop.

"We walk from here," Glenn told us from the driver's seat.

Daryl opened up the back and I saw we were parked on a railroad. I jumped down last after Daryl and Trevor, almost losing my balance. Thankfully, Trevor caught be before I fell. My brother - always looking out for me.

We ran the rest of the way, not daring to take a moment to breathe. I was behind the group and felt my lungs constrict while we climbed through a fence underneath stone bridge made up of archways. I was breathing heavily and the men shot me a concerned look.

"'Ya alright?" Daryl asked.

"I'm...I'm..." I gasped just as I fell on my face. There was a tugging on my ankle that had pulled me into the gravel. "Ah!"

I tried to kick the hand off me, but my mind wasn't focused on that. Instead, getting air into my system was most important.

There was a sound of air that flew above my body until it stopped suddenly when the sound of bone crunching filled my pounding ears.

I looked up to see Daryl take his bow from his eye level, lending a hand out to me. I took it and noticed how rough they were against my soft skin.

"Come on. We gotta get outta here," Rick said and took off straight ahead.

Trevor waited up for me as Daryl trailed behind.

"You okay?" he asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I didn't feel like it though. I felt like a huge whirlwind of emotions; adrenaline, fear, and excitement all wrapped up in one.

In a few minutes, we were inside the building where Merle was going to be on the rooftop. We made our rounds through the clothing apartment and only found one remaining Walker there. Daryl took care of it before we continued on up the stairs towards the roof.

The men took care of barging through the door, all the while Daryl screaming his brother's name.

Once we made it outside, I saw after walking down the ramp, that Merle was nowhere to be found.

At first, I didn't know what was making Daryl suddenly freak out, other than the obvious. It took me awhile as I furrowed my brows to see what he was looking at.

There, in Merle's place, laying in a deep red pool of blood, was Merle's bloody hand.


End file.
